The Approval Matrix: October 10, 2005

Pipeline
Director Spike Lee is teaming up with Da Ali G Show’s Sacha Baron Cohen for a series of comedic spots to promote TNT’s basketball programming; in the spots, Cohen (as Ali G) will interview some of the NBA’s biggest stars. . . . Buffy the Vampire Slayer mastermind Joss Whedon (whose Serenity is in theaters now) has a new project in the works: Goners, a supernatural thriller that he wrote and will direct after
he completes production on Warner Bros.’ Wonder Woman. . . . Rapper Nelly is shopping his own reality show, which will focus on the minutiae of his everyday life as a celebrity. . . . A host of top-notch alt-rock talent, including Death Cab for Cutie, Laura Cantrell, and Tom Waits, have pledged previously unreleased songs to a 28-track compilation to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina. . . . Best-selling music writer Stephen Davis (Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga) has agreed to
write an unauthorized biography of onetime blockbuster act Guns N’ Roses.